


No Magic At The Dinner Table

by thatapostateboy



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Family, Fluff, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 21:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1483810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatapostateboy/pseuds/thatapostateboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which all four Hawke children make it to Kirkwall (Mage!Male and Rogue!Female). <br/>A series of one shots into the Hawke family following one of Leandra's rules 'No magic at the dinner table'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Magic At The Dinner Table

‘No magic at the dinner table’.

That had been one of the rules that had stuck all the way through the Hawke children’s childhood. With three mages in the family, Leandra had insisted that whenever they all came together at the end of a long day and ate dinner as a family, there was no magic used. Of course, after spending the day training with their father, Garrett and Bethany would always be keen to show off their new skills to Carver and Marie (who always refused to be called Marian), which often meant Garrett playing jokes on his younger brother by covering his dinner with an ice spell.

‘No magic at the dinner table’ Leandra would scold her eldest son, even whilst her other children, Carver not included, would be laughing. Malcolm would tell them to listen to their mother, but would then use a fire spell to defrost his son’s dinner and turn the conversation to something else.

As they grew and their skills developed, the pranks got a lot more intricate. Poor Carver was always too slow to notice his brother’s tricks, not like Marie whose roguish instincts allowed her to avoid Garrett’s trickery. The youngest Hawke brother would often find himself on his backside after a force spell from Garrett moved his chair, or sliding off of the chair because it would be covered with grease.

And every night, as sure as Garrett would trick Carver, Leandra would repeat, ‘no magic at the dinner table’, which the entire family knew well enough to chime in with. It was a Hawke family ritual, just one of those things that would make them all smile, even Carver on occasion.

***

The tradition carried on even when they came to Kirkwall, even after Malcolm had died, even after the Deep Roads expedition, even after Bethany had joined the Circle and Carver had become a Grey Warden. Garrett would still find some way, even if he simply lit the candles on the table using magic instead of matches, to keep it going, and Leandra would always softly say ‘no magic at the dinner table’. It was met with a gentle smile from Marie. It was a nostalgic practice, a reminder of the things they had lost, but also of what they had once had, and the fact that they still had each other. Even after what they had been through, they still had this.

***

However, when Anders started spending more and more time at the estate, Leandra found that she was starting to use the phrase more seriously again. She knew the mage was close to both her son and daughter, often referred to by them both as their best friend, but the way her daughter said it, the way she looked at him, was the way that Leandra had looked at Malcolm.

Marie spoke about the healer with a tone of praise that matched that of a lovesick girl, romanticising his quest for mage freedom. That was not a world she wanted her daughter a part of. It was far too dangerous. Magic was part of their lives whether they wanted it or not, but her feelings for Anders would change magic’s role completely. Yet still, Marie never heeded her mother’s concerned yet gentle warnings. She had caught her waving the mage off one morning, a twinkle in her eye and a blush in her cheeks, especially when confronted by her mother. The rogue had simply smiled at Leandra and told her that she was in love. Leandra remembered how that had felt, to be young and in love with someone that no one would approve of, to experience the thrill of it, to realise that it was so reckless that you no longer cared.

So, the mage started coming around more often, spending longer periods of time in their home, sneaking out every morning as not to face Leandra, who still insisted that her daughter find a noble husband. Someone had to carry on the Hawke and Amell legacies. She doubted it would ever come from Garrett, not whilst he was trailing after that pirate girl.

Anders would eat dinner with them most nights; Marie insisted as she was tired of seeing him look thin and underfed. Whilst he didn’t use spells at the table like Garrett used to in order to torment Carver, he brought mage rights up in conversation. The first few times, Leandra let it go. It was obvious that he was passionate about the subject, whole heartedly believing in freedom for mages. But it was when her children got as involved in the conversation that she started to worry. They would discuss the current state of the Circle and how it didn’t look to be improving, but only worsening. There was always a case to be made that Bethany stated otherwise, but they agreed that she was just one mage; an exemplary mage, one that would find no trouble in the Circle. They talked about Anders’ manifesto, what could be added to it, how it could be distributed for everyone to read, whether they were in enough favour with the right people for it to make a difference. As soon as they mentioned helping mages escape, Leandra knew this was getting too far.

 “No magic at the dinner table,” she had told them and watched as they all turned to look at her, mouths full of food yet halfway through their discussion. Garrett, as always, had looked on the verge of laughing. Marie had her eyes down, her expression calm, almost apologetic, but Leandra knew if she looked into her daughter’s eyes, she would see the same light-heartedness that her brother always had. As for Anders, he looked as though Leandra had just kicked him out. His tired face didn’t hide his confusion as he glanced from one Hawke to another, trying to judge whether Leandra was being serious or whether he wasn’t aware of a joke that they all were.

Marie had cleared her throat, taken a sip of wine then changed the topic, falling easily into her role as a noblewoman, turning the conversation to Seneschal Bran’s nameday party next week. Leandra could see right through the act, she knew it was always a ruse on her daughter’s behalf, but she pulled it off well and convinced most of the nobility. She knew that deep down, her daughter would never fit into this world. She didn’t have her brother’s natural charm. She preferred to stick to the shadows; always there to be a level head when it was needed, but happy to let her brother take centre stage. Bethany had always been the one for dresses and balls. Marie had preferred knives and shadows.

Anders stayed for dinner many more nights after that, and he never brought up mage rights at the dinner table again, as not to upset Leandra, whom he was obviously trying to get into good favour with now that he was practically living in the estate at Marie’s request. But Garrett ensured that the tradition was kept up by lighting the candles every night using a fire spell, and on nights when Leandra was particularly missing her other children, Anders would often be given a frozen dinner as to give them all a good laugh.

The blonde mage was slowly starting to become one of the family. With the presence of another mage, and his ideals about freedom, it felt almost like having Malcolm back in their lives. He wasn’t the same, nor was he a replacement, but he fit perfectly into their family.

***

The estate was silent that night. Everything was still. A great loss weighed heavily on every individual in the house. The servants had long since gone to bed, but neither Marie nor Garrett could sleep. Instead, they sat at the dinner table together, their food had gone cold a long while ago, neither of them able to stomach a meal, no matter how much Bodahn had insisted.

They had both looked up slowly when they heard the door open. A familiar figure came into the dining room. Anders didn’t know what to do. The two people he cared about most; his lover and his best friend, had lost someone important from their lives, and in the most horrific way possible. He wanted to help them, to comfort them, but he had no idea how. Was there any way to make this better?

He took his usual seat at the table, and put a hand on Marie’s arm, feeling how cold her skin had gotten from sitting in this one room for too long. The fire had died out and neither had had the energy or the will to relight it. Fire shot from his fingers and the fireplace filled with the orange heat, warming up the Hawke twins.

Marie looked to him, finally breaking out of the trance she’d been in, “No magic at the dinner table,” she reminded him, her voice hoarse and croaky from where she’d been crying. There was a pause, a realisation as to what she had just said, a glance to the empty seat on the other side of the table and a sob suddenly racked through her.

Anders put his arms around her and just held her, unsure what else he could do. Isabela came to the mansion not long afterwards, bringing a bottle of her favourite rum, and the four of them all sat at the dinner table, drinking and grieving for Leandra Hawke.

***

“No magic at the dinner table.”

Marie was always insistent on this rule. She didn’t care how much magic was used in the house, but when they sat down together, they were going to keep the spells to a minimum.

“You heard your mother,” Anders chuckled, tearing off a piece of fresh bread to dip into his stew, “You know the rules.”

Young Malcolm shook his hand out, ridding it of the ice spell he was about to fire at his twin sister Beth. Marie couldn’t help but smile a little to herself as watched her family; her mage husband and their mage son and daughter, tucking into their dinner. This was the closest she had felt to her life back in Lothering for a very long time. She knew this probably wasn’t what her mother had planned for her, she had wanted her to marry into nobility, live her life in Kirkwall. But Marie was happy here in Amaranthine and she had everything she ever wanted. And she supposed that her mother would have been content with that, as long as she remembered ‘no magic at the dinner table’.


End file.
